NEVADA INVENTORS
ASSOCIATION
NEVADA INVENTORS
ASSOCIATION
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Dear Mr. Gibson,
Your inquiry was forwarded to me to offer some help. I may be able to get you started in the right direction and
save you some money. I'll address the patent question first, then when you're ready I may be able to help with
a licensing contact. But it's too soon for that now. The rule is: "Protect first -- Market later." It's
a frustration for any inventor to have a great idea and no money or connections to make it turn into a successful
product on the market. Unfortunately, there are a lot of scams that will MAKE YOU THINK they will sell your "idea"
to industry and make you rich. They advertise on TV, Radio, and in the back of magazines. Don't fall for that.
It will only discourage you from creating more inventions. Evidentally you are creative or you would not be seeking
invention advice now -- Right? The thing to do is educate yourself about what can be done without hurting yourself,
and maybe make the right connection to get your product subsidized by a company that will help you market your
product.
First, don't make the mistake of thinking the first thing to do is get the product to market and get the money,
then worry about mundane things like protection and patent coverage afterwards. That's where the scam outfits operate
-- making inventors think that is the right way to go. It isn't. It's actually putting the cart before the horse,
so to speak.
My best advice to you right now is keep your mouth shut. Don't tell anyone about your idea until you're ready to
start a paper trail for protection. The way to do that is to have a disclosure document signed by you and a witness,
and start a log (journal) about how and when you came up with the idea and what you've done about it. U.S. patent
law is designed for the "first inventor" to get the patent.
Go to my website -- http://www.doncostar.com and look for the link "help letter" underneath my picture.
Click on that link and read that letter. If you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to download it, just click on the
Adobe icon underneath the link on my web page. The letter gives you good advice on how to start. Then download
the forms you will need under "forms." Make sure your "witness" is someone who will not benefit
from your success, OK? No family member or employee or employer -- just a friend who can go to court if necessary,
and swear to the truth of what he/she signed. Someone who's only interest is to help you establish a date of disclosure.
Now as soon as you can, subscribe to the Inventors' Digest magazine. That magazine is very helpful in content,
plus it has a classified section where you can find companies who are interested in your type of product AT THAT
TIME. It is http://www.inventorsdigest.com or call 1-800-838-8808. There's also another website that has information
to help you find companies who might be interested in your product when you're ready: It is the UIA/USA organization.
http://www.uiausa.org You can click on both of them from my website.
But be careful you don't spend any money until you have done a patentability search and copied several patents
that are in your ballpark. You must do that as a first thing to do. Just because you don't find your product on
the market does not mean it hasn't been invented by someone. If you can't do the search yourself, pay a professional
to do it. But do it! You can do some preliminary searching of course, by going to the patent office website at
http://www.uspto.gov There are some software on the market that will actually help you create and write a good
patent application. My reviews of all three will be published in the next issue of Inventors' Digest magazine.
Good luck, if you get stuck send me an e-mail and I'll try to help.
Don Costar,
Founder Nevada Inventors Association
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Page done by Vince Chemist.
Created on August 24 2003
Updated on July 02 2004